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Construction abuzz at Lower Sproul student hub

A new hub for student life at UC Berkeley is emerging. Construction progressed rapidly this summer on the Lower Sproul redevelopment project. The NewsCenter went along on a hardhat tour of the site, poked around in the concrete and rebar skeletons of new spaces under construction and brought back photos.

By Public Affairs

August 29, 2014

A new hub for student life at UC Berkeley is emerging. Construction progressed rapidly this summer on the Lower Sproul redevelopment project. We went along on a hardhat tour of the site, poked around in the concrete and rebar skeletons of new spaces under construction and brought back photos:

Eshleman, as seen from the student union. This is scheduled to be completed in fall 2015.

A wide passageway leads from Bancroft Way through Eshleman to Lower Sproul Plaza.

Hardhat tour of Lower Sproul Redevelopment Project. — The Campanile can be seen through the open walls of Eshleman.

New concrete forms Eshleman's floor and walls. A patio by the Bear’s Lair will have a small stage and an outdoor dining area.

Inside the new Eshleman's first floor, nicknamed the “Pebble,” which will have an information desk, a coffee shop and lots of large glass windows with vistas onto Bancroft to the south and Sproul Plaza to the north.

First floor will have an information desk, coffee shop, and an open lounge. Second floor will have a space for the Public Service Center (formerly known as Cal Corps) and the third floor, offices for student organizations. The fourth floor will have the Graduate Assembly and LEED Center, and the fifth floor will house the Senate Chambers and event space. — The new Eshelman rises, and will top out at five stories, with parking in the basement.

A new bridge and staircase will connect Lower Sproul Plaza, Eshleman and the student union.

The old patio of the MLK Jr. Student Union is being built out, and will look out on a greener Lower Sproul Plaza.

The Upper Sproul area at the top of the sweeping stairs that lead down to Lower Sproul, currently closed for construction.

The view from inside the wooden fence around the Lower Sproul Plaza part of the construction zone.

The hardhat tour group heads down the student union's stairs to Lower Sproul Plaza.

Looking out from the student union toward Bancroft Way, steel beams are rising over the old open space.

In renovated student union's first floor will be food vendors, shops, art studios, a computing facility and the Cal Store.

The view from the second floor of the student union, looking across to Zellerbach Hall.

Construction barriers close off stairs leading up from the first floor of the MLK Jr. Student Union.

Teri Mathers, senior project manager, fills in people taking the hard hat tour on what's being built.

Kelsey Harmon Finn, executive director of the ASUC Auxiliary, gives a presentation on "The New Eshleman."

Teri Mathers, senior project manager for Lower Sproul, stands by a whiteboard listing the project's vision.

In general, there will be a more open floor plan with spacious and light interiors, WiFi inside and out, pop-up stores, coffee shops, information desks, food vendors, lounges and couches, meeting spaces, and entertainment spaces.

Welcome to the "Hardhat Tour" of the Lower Sproul Redevelopment Project!

The $223 million project includes the construction of a new Eshleman Hall on the site of the old one, along Bancroft Way, plus the overhaul and renovation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union.

Lower Sproul Plaza also gets a new surface, disabled access in the area is being improved and new landscape is going in. The student-services-centered complex is designed to be light, airy and inviting, with lounges, cafes, the bookstore, a pub, a multicultural center, meeting and performances spaces and the offices of UC Berkeley’s Public Service Center, the Graduate Assembly and ASUC Senate, among other organizations and services.

The project is financed in large part by the BEARS fee initiative of 2010, when students voted to impose on themselves an escalating fee, starting with $35 a semester in 2011. The fund has already contributed to the relocation of the Career Center and to renovation of historic Anthony Hall, home of the Graduate Assembly and Alumnae Hall, which is serving as ASUC Senate headquarters during construction.

The two main buildings defining the east and south sides of the space, Eshleman and the Student Union, will be connected by a bridge and staircases, and a wide passageway will lead through the ground floor of Eshleman from Bancroft Way to Lower Sproul Plaza. The new stairway and ramp between upper and Lower Sproul plazas is scheduled to open in January 2015. The entire project is scheduled for completion in fall 2015.

For more on the project visit lowersproul.berkeley.edu